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Chapter 3 ♦ 123
The working conditions of young graduates seeking a university career
favored speedy habilitation.150 The number of scholarships was limited, and
the payment low, and assistants were bound by some rigorous rules: a max-
imum of four years in the same position151 and, at least at some universities,
a ban on marrying.152 Clearly, the time between graduation and habilitation
was financially exhausting.153 This process offered social advancement but
favored those whose families had a good financial situation. The sons of
civil servants, the urban bourgeoisie, and scholars constituted the major-
ity, however.154
There was also a financial aspect to habilitation, making it attractive
even for scholars with no intention of entering a university career. Especially
for physicians and jurists who had their own practices and lawyer’s of-
fices, being a Privatdozent (or carrying any title of Dozent) increased their
status and thus their income. That such titles were acquired (or even used
without formal habilitation) for reasons of prestige was a continual source
of criticism.155 Because in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century
roughly 40 percent of Privatdozenten—mostly in practical disciplines—did
not have an occupation listed, one can imagine that they had private prac-
tices (the other 60 percent were most often chiefs of clinics, assistants, or
chief physicians).156 Further, these Privatdozenten seldom achieved a pro-
motion. However, since the title was rescinded if a scholar was not actively
teaching (even though it was not necessary to teach every semester), most
Privatdozenten remained in their positions, especially in the capital, thus
aggravating the image of an overcrowded first step on the career ladder.
To return now to the factors facilitating the academic careers of Privat-
dozenten, their function as a reservoir of scholars was reminiscent of the idea
of a Pflanzschule before 1848. Promoting Privatdozenten was seen not only
as supporting local scientific traditions but also as being vital to sustain the
function and attractiveness of the Privatdozentur. It is clear that the facul-
ties consciously used these arguments to promote local scholars, especially
in more debatable cases.157 But one also finds evidence in support of local
tradition in ministerial notes, where “tradition” conceals the fact that the
nomination of a young Privatdozent was simply the cheapest option to fill
a professorship.158
Medical faculties were especially torn between supporting local schol-
ars and hiring external candidates. Habsburg medical institutions had strong
local traditions but also strove to obtain the best possible scholars. They also
had to convince the ministry, which valued tradition and finances more than
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Buch Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 - A Social History of a Multilingual Space"
Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918
A Social History of a Multilingual Space
- Titel
- Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918
- Untertitel
- A Social History of a Multilingual Space
- Autor
- Jan Surman
- Verlag
- Purdue University Press
- Ort
- West Lafayette
- Datum
- 2019
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- PD
- ISBN
- 978-1-55753-861-1
- Abmessungen
- 16.5 x 25.0 cm
- Seiten
- 474
- Schlagwörter
- History, Austria, Eduction System, Learning
- Kategorien
- Geschichte Vor 1918
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- List of Illustrations vi
- List of Tables vii
- Acknowledgments ix
- Note on Language Use, Terminology, and Geography xi
- Abbreviations xiii
- Introduction A Biography of the Academic Space 1
- Chapter 1 Centralizing Science for the Empire 19
- Chapter 2 The Neoabsolutist Search for a Unified Space 49
- Chapterr 3 Living Out Academic Autonomy 89
- Chapter 4 German-Language Universities between Austrian and German Space 139
- Chapter 5 Habsburg Slavs and Their Spaces 175
- Chapter 6 Imperial Space and Its Identities 217
- Chapter 7 Habsburg Legacies 243
- Conclusion Paradoxes of the Central European Academic Space 267
- Appendix 1 Disciplines of Habilitation at Austrian Universities 281
- Appendix 2 Databases of Scholars at Cisleithanian Universities 285
- Notes 287
- Bibliography 383
- Index 445